Stakeholders from the Aliko Dangote Foundation and Sight and Life Foundation have called for the adoption of foods to improve food security, nutrition quality, and help reduce waste and support sustainable food systems.

At a roundtable discussion yesterday, the Sight and Life Foundation, in collaboration with the Aliko Dangote Foundation, unveiled a report titled “Fermentation: An Ancient Solution to Modern Challenges”, calling for the adoption of fermentation to tackle Nigeria’s growing post-harvest food loss.

Speaking on the findings of the report, the Africa Director, Sight and Life Foundation, Dr Mairo Mandara, said that fermentation, if properly harnessed, could reduce Nigeria’s 45 per cent post-harvest food loss.

She observed that fermented foods, which were once central to traditional diets and vital to good health, were now being replaced by processed foods due to urbanisation, warning that such a trend contributes to rising health challenges.

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Aliko Dangote Foundation, Zouera Youssoufou, stated that the initiative was organised in collaboration with the Sight and Life Foundation to explore ways to strengthen Nigeria’s food system through the promotion of fermentation.

In her remarks, the Director and Head, Nutrition Department, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ladidi Bako-Aiyegbusi, said that Nigeria was battling a high burden of malnutrition in Nigeria, noting that there were ongoing efforts from the Federal Government to tackle the crisis.

A professor of Human Nutrition at the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training, Obafemi Awolowo, Veronica Obatolu, expressed the need for quality control in the implementation of fermentation of foods, saying it should be prepared under hygienic and safe conditions. Director for Health and Nutrition, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Francis Aminu, added that fermentation had promising future food trends.